Personality: Bishop is a strong-willed natural leader determined to see Xavier's dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants come to pass. He has been hardened by years of battle and has little time for humour or small talk. He is utterly loyal to his allies, yet without mercy to enemies or those who stand in the way of his cause. He is not without conscience, feeling regret whenever he is forced to kill an honourable foe. He holds the X-Men of our time in near-religious awe, the result of the exaggerated stories he learned as a youth. Many of his idols, however, do not like his ruthless ways in combat.

Strength: Bishop possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise.

Fighting Skills:Bishop, as a member of the XSE and then the X-Men, is a skilled combatant, making full use of his unique training and many years of experience.

Special Skills and Abilities: Bishop is a skilled marksman, and natural leader. He is also trained in military techniques and the law enforcement procedures of his century.

Known superhuman powers: Bishop is a mutant who can absorb kinetic energy directed toward him and project it from his hands in concussive blasts. He possesses the normal strength of a man of his age, height and build who engages in intensive regular exercise.

Special weaponry: XSE guns that fire laser beams and plasma charges.

Bishop and his sister Shard were both born in one of the "mutant relocation camps." Like other mutants they were branded with "M" tattoos over their right eyes for identification.

Eventually, "normal" human beings and mutants joined forces and overthrew the Sentinels in the "Summers Rebellion." However, "normal" humans still resisted coexistence with mutants, and radical terrorist groups of mutants, such as the Exhumes, made war on "normal" humans.

One of the veterans of the Summers Rebellion, a mutant named Hecat'e, stated that it was unacceptable for humans to hunt down criminal mutants. Therefore, she said, mutants should police themselves. Hence, Hecat'e and other mutant veterans of the Summers Rebellion formed the XSE. The XSE was named after Charles Xavier in honor of his dream of peaceful coexistence between mutants and "normal" humans. Hecat'e became the XSE's commanding officer.

Since their parents had apparently died, Bishop and Shard lived with their grandmother, who was herself a mutant, until she died. Their grandmother told them stories about the heroism of the X-Men and instructed them to follow Xavier's dream of peace between mutants and the rest of humanity.

One day, when Bishop and Shard were both still children, two XSE members were pursuing Virago, a member of the Exhumes, a radical group of mutants who hated "normal" humans. When Virago took Shard as a hostage, Bishop leapt onto Virago's back, making her release his sister. Infuriated, Virago was about to murder Bishop when Sureshot shot her dead. Until then, Bishop had regarded the XSE as his enemies and the Exhumes as heroes, but from then onward he wanted to join the XSE.

Later, Bishop, Shard, and their grandmother's friend Hancock were attacked by criminal mutants called Billboy and Halftrack. The two criminals killed Hancock and were about to murder Shard. Bishop tried to save Shard, but it was two members of the XSE, Amazon and Recoil, who stopped Billboy and Halftrack.

Impressed by Bishop, Amazon and Recoil offered Bishop a position in the XSE. Bishop accepted on the condition that Shard be accepted in the XSE as well. By now Bishop's own superhuman power had manifested itself. Thus Bishop and Shard became cadets at the XSE Academy under Hecat'e's supervision. Among the other members of their class was Bishop's future enemy, Trevor Fitzroy.

Eventually, Bishop and Shard became officers of the XSE. Shard, however, became Bishop's commanding officer. Bishop contented himself with a lower rank so that he could work the streets alongside his friends and fellow XSE officers, Malcolm and Randall.

Fitzroy eventually turned criminal and was imprisoned. He broke free and escaped with other mutant criminals back through a time portal to the X-Men's own time. Bishop, Malcolm, and Randall followed, even though they were aware they had no means to return to their own time. The escaped outlaws killed Malcolm and Randall. During the fight that followed, Bishop defeated Fitzroy moments before he could complete his quest. The price of victory was high, however: Bishop's sister, Shard, sacrificed her life for the ultimate good. And mere moments after the war had been won, Bishop, filled with chronal energy, was ripped through time. Michael remained in the future, with no hope of returning home.

Spiraling through time, Bishop emerged in the present...deep in space. The so-called "Last X-Man" crashed into a Shi'ar space station, where Professor Charles Xavier and his "Cadre K" of mutant Skrull students were searching for Deathbird -- the Shi'ar criminal who appears to be Bishop's chronal anchor in the present day. A pan-galactic committee had transformed Earth into a prison planet, and Deathbird held a key to penetrate the panel's maximum-security energy barrier. Bishop almost killed the terrorist before she opened an airlock and was blown into space. He then allowed himself to be captured and sent to Earth on a mission, where he reunited with the X-Men.